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Daily Warmups: Why I Tone my Surface First
May/June 2008

My Daily Warmups - Part Two in a series of Three

Why I Tone My Surface First

Orange Underpainting
Orange Underpainting

Last month I wrote about dividing up your watercolor paper into small paint sketch areas. I call these my daily warmup paint sketches. It is a very important play time daily exercise for me. In fact, American Artist magazine interviewed me for an article outlining exactly why I do daily warmups.

This month however, the question is why do I prime my surface with the color orange? The answer, quite frankly, is not as enlightening as you might think. I use an orange-tinted monochromatic underpainting on my paper or canvas first, because... I was trained to paint that way.

Two hundred years earlier the color was ochre, not orange. Mostly because that was the warmest color they had then. Today we categorize that period of time as "The Brown School" (Vermeer, Rembrandt, etc.) - they did not have the audacity of colors we have today. But I digress... Whether my painting is a warm painting or a cool painting, I start off with an orange/red underpainting. From the French Impressionists, I learned to allow all those other, earlier colors peek through all the top layers of paint. It adds to the shimmer and vibrancy of color, light and shadow.


Warmup Spheres & Light Source
Warmup Spheres & Light Source

The orange ball paintings I show as examples demonstrate how I paint if I'm painting a subject that has dark and light features and uses a single light source. Getting started: I wipe a midtone orange tint, all over the paper or canvas with a very wet Viva paper towel. Next, I establish my lights and my darks with orange paint. See the simple pears below. My original concern is to show the viewer where the light is coming from, therefore showing the shadow side as well.

Pear Warm-Ups Letting Orange Show Through
Pear Warm-Ups Letting Orange Show Through

In short, I start off with a warm tone to help me visualize and establish my darks and lights, my composition and my concept. Whatever color I use later, I allow the earlier colors to pop through - it gives my paintings a glow.

Next month, we'll finish the Warmups with giving them a WOW!.
 Red Square

Copyright ©2007 Robert Burridge. All rights reserved.
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Robert Burridge Studio
Arroyo Grande, California
805-459-1503
rburridge@robertburridge.com
www.robertburridge.com


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